Undeath
Overview Undeath is the state of existence of an organism that died at some point but has since come back to life via a supernatural force of some sort, but in a state where it can no longer be considered truly alive or truly dead. Organisms that exist in a state of undeath are often called undead, living dead or unliving (in both noun and adjective form). Undead physiology The undead will never age beyond their current point, even if they died before reaching adulthood, or lose adrenaline when exerting themselves, nor do they ever need to eat, drink or breathe, with exceptions such as vampires, whose sole source of sustainment is the blood of the living. In addition, they are naturally immune to virtually all non-magical diseases, poisons and infections. Limitations Natural limitations brought on by undeath include the complete inability to sexually reproduce, feel physical pain or heal even the slightest of wounds or cuts naturally; the only two types of undead that can heal at all are vampires, which need to drink a sufficient amount of blood to do so, and husks, which need to maintain their symbiotic relationship with their smogs to do so (incorporeal undead, by nature, cannot receive physical injuries). Types of undead Corporeal undead Also known as living corpses, corporeal undead are souls that still exist within the physical bodies they had before and during death. This group includes mummies, zombies, ghouls, vampires, zompires, vaebeasts and husks. While corporeal undead can still be killed by decapitation or destruction of the brain, they no longer have the biological need for any of their other organs to function; some can apparently even speak or make other vocal noises without the need for their larynx (unless they lost their larynx or their voice before death/reanimation). Exceptions include vampires and mummies, which rely on their hearts as well as their brains (or in a mummy's case, instead of its since-removed brain) to function similarly to when they were alive. Incorporeal undead Also known as non-corporeal undead or spirits, incorporeal undead no longer inhabit their physical bodies, and instead wander the Earth dimension as spirits. This group includes ghosts, poltergeists and smogs. Missing information about powers/abilities common to all incorporeal undead Sentient undead Sentient undead are generally just as conscious, intelligent, emotional etc. as they were in life. This group includes husks, liches and various types of vampire (as long as their "vampire's thirst" is currently satisfied). Non-sentient undead Also known as mindless undead, non-sentient undead have no consciousness to speak of, and are usually driven by a single instinct. This group includes vampires that have had either too much or too little blood to drink and zombies. Artificial undead Artificial undead are the types of undead that exist due to sapient species such as humans reanimating the dead (or in liches' case, themselves) with a specific form of magic such as necromancy. This group includes zombies, liches, smogs and husks. Hybrid undead A hybrid undead is formed on the rare occasion that a living creature is converted by two or more different types of undead into an amalgamation of those types. This group includes zompires Cursed undead Cursed undead are another rare type of undead that were afflicted with a certain genetic curse (e.g. therianthropy, the wendigo curse) before being converted into undead, a concept similar to hybrid undead. This group includes vaewolves, Notes *The transition from death to undeath is typically called reanimation, or less commonly, resurrection. *It can be argued that, for a corporeal undead, putting a part of itself (e.g. its teeth) into the flesh of a living being, regardless of gender (or lack thereof, in some cases) to convert it into said predator's type of undead is a form of asexual reproduction. **A husk would do this by releasing part of its own smog and allowing it to bond to a new host. *One's transformation into an undead can usually be stopped while they're still alive with unicorn blood or specific potions. **In theory, if this is used on a smog-infested creature or person, the smog will be killed and what it ate of the would-be husk's skeleton will be restored. *It is unknown if life forms such as plants, fungi or bacteria can become undead. Trivia * Category:Concepts Category:Magic and the supernatural Category:The undead